Kim seen with mystery limp

July 8: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was pictured walking with a mysterious limp as he commemorated the 20th anniversary of the death of the country’s founder Kim Il-sung.

At a ceremony with government officials the 31-year-old Supreme Leader moved at a slower pace than normal, appearing to have suffered an injury to his right leg or foot.

In a speech at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang the head of the country’s parliament described Mr Kim in typically glowing terms.

“His precious name will be a light in the world and our hearts for all people and humanity,” Kim Jong-nam assured the party faithful.

State media and propaganda are highly choreographed by the isolated country and any defects with its leadership are usually kept a tightly guarded secret.

Kim Il Sung, who ruled until his death in 1994, had a large and inoperable tennis-ball sized growth on the back of his neck which meant state media were forbidden from filming him from certain angles.

It was not immediately clear how Kim Jong un developed the limp. State media has shown the 30 year-old leader conducting extensive military on the spot guidance visits on the east and west coasts in recent weeks. North and South Korea are technically still at war after their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea, which has threatened a fourth nuclear test in violation of UN sanctions, has test-fired short-range missiles and rockets three times in the past 10 days and threatened to continue doing so.